Windows 7 Upgrade Q&A

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I have 2 desktop pcs at home running 32 bit vista home premium oem copies. I was thinking of running down to fry's and picking up the family upgrade 3 pack. Since my vista pc's at home are oem can I still use the upgrade? I also want to go to 64bit on one of the desktops. Does the upgrade pack come with the 64 and 32bit versions? Can I use the upgrade pack for clean installs?

 

[kellehair]

What's the story with multibooting 7 and XP? Is it the same as Vista? Can you do it with the student version?

I'm downloading 7 Pro x64 for students right now. I want to install it on a laptop that already a factory installed copy of XP on it. I want 7 to be installed on a separate partition. Can I do that?

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: OILFIELDTRASH
I have 2 desktop pcs at home running 32 bit vista home premium oem copies. I was thinking of running down to fry's and picking up the family upgrade 3 pack. Since my vista pc's at home are oem can I still use the upgrade? I also want to go to 64bit on one of the desktops. Does the upgrade pack come with the 64 and 32bit versions? Can I use the upgrade pack for clean installs?

I've previously posted an answer to this in a different thread. The Family Pack will allow upgrades to OEM PCs and will allow both x32 and x64 upgrades. It's intended as an "Upgrade", so it should only be used on PCs with valid licenses for XP or Vista.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Does it come with the 32 and 64 bit discs?

 

[SimMike2]

Originally posted by: OILFIELDTRASH
Does it come with the 32 and 64 bit discs?

They are both on the same disk.

 

[jobz]

ZOOYUKA, if you can't find the installation disks, I have another solution.

Use SysInternals' disk2vhd to create an image of your xp's partition, then you can run all your pgms in virtual pc or virtualbox with installing.

 

[sanzen07]

So does anyone have an answer to the double-install trick to clean install Windows 7 Upgrade like you could do with Vista upgrade? Does this work?

 

[Binky]

Q: Can I upgrade the Win7 RC to the final version?
A: Yes, as long as you bought Win7 Ultimate. The trick is to change a small setting in an install file.

Q: What if I didn't buy Ultimate final version?
A: You MUST do a clean install.

 

[Thraxen]

Can the Windows 7 Upgrades be used to upgrade an OEM OS?

[edit] I see the question was answered above. So it's only the family packs that work? The upgrade options they offered during the special pre-order period won't work?

 

[TheSlamma]

Originally posted by: harlanpepper
There appear to be lots of people having issues with the student upgrade when trying to go from x86 to 64-bit professional. Seems like Digital River really screwed things up here... a simple .iso would have been nice:

http://social.answers.microsof...42ec-9a0c-1aa932363bbb

http://social.technet.microsof...4695-8c8d-8a83be589708

I did the conversion to ISO. it works just fine, but I do agree, why didn't they just do an ISO.

 

[Mem]

RebateMonger this might be helpful to users that do an upgrade over old version and want to tidy up a bit.

These two scenerios happened to me from Vista x64 HP to Win7 x64 Ultimate via upgrade.

First was dead game icon links still showing in Games Explorer after upgrade from Vista ,removal soloution below(works for Vista and Win7 )
link.

Second is the classic Windows .old or $Windows.~old folder that contains Securom folder,sometimes you can't delete the old Windows folder because of Securom in the Windows.old folder.

Solution to fix this is here (bottom section).
By deleting the old Windows folder you can free up quite a bit of free HD space,obviously you would only do this if you are happy with your new Win7 upgrade and have no intention of going back to the previous OS.

I ran CCleaner after and Win7 is purring like a kitten after my upgrade,sure I could of done a clean install but this way I did not need to reinstall anything .

 

[wonSR4]

I am currently using Windows XP Home 32-bit and purchased the Windows 7 Professional 64-bit from digitalriver. I am waiting on a new hard drive I bought on which I want to put the Windows 7 OS. So if what I have been reading from various forums is correct, one option (but semi-tedious) is installing the Windows XP Home 32-bit onto the new hard drive and then doing a custom install of the Windows 7 Professional 64-bit onto that new hard drive. Does that sound about right?

 

[strikeback03]

Originally posted by: SimMike2

Originally posted by: ZOOYUKA
I am upgrading from XP home to 7 Home. I see I have to do a custom install. What does that entail? Do I need to back everything up before I do it?

While it is a really good idea to backup everything to a separate drive, and even better, make an image file of your current OS boot partition, what Windows 7 will do is install to your current OS partition, moving all your data and files to a directory called "windows.old." After Windows 7 is installed, you can find all your data files there and move them to your new My Documents location. Windows 7 does not reformat your drive by default. This isn't a complete clean install, but probably just as good and way safer.

What would happen if the partition you are installing to is not large enough for 7 and all the stuff from the former install?

Also, what would be the legal story on purchasing a Retail upgrade and using it to upgrade a OEM version of XP? Would it then be licensed to move around as needed, or would that only be if upgrading another retail version?

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Thraxen
Can the Windows 7 Upgrades be used to upgrade an OEM OS?

[edit] I see the question was answered above. So it's only the family packs that work? The upgrade options they offered during the special pre-order period won't work?

Retail upgrade kits can be used on OEM and Retail Windows installations alike. MS wants OEM users upgrading just as badly as they do Retail users.

 

[pyro451]

Great information here but I still don't have a clear answer to my situation (maybe I'm just not reading closely enough).

I have a fully licensed Windows XP Home installed on my computer (has been built from scratch and upgraded too many times to remember). I decided to buy the digital river upgrade to Win7Pro x64 and started the download before leaving home this morning.

I plan to completely sacrifice my old rig and part it out so I can install Win7 on the new i7 box I built. The new box has two brand new WD RE3s in RAID1 and NO FLOPPY DRIVE.

So, can I boot from the win 7 DVD (from digital river - "Upgrade") and install to my new rig?

If I have to install XP on the new rig first, I do not have a floppy drive to load the RAID drivers.

How screwed am I?

Thanks!

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: strikeback03
Also, what would be the legal story on purchasing a Retail upgrade and using it to upgrade a OEM version of XP? Would it then be licensed to move around as needed, or would that only be if upgrading another retail version?

"Legal Story":

Consider what the "Upgrade" license is for: It's a license to upgrade a PC that already has an existing license for a previous OS.

You can uninstall (or just delete) the Upgrade and put the Upgrade on another PC. But the new PC needs a base license for a suitable OS. You're not moving the whole (upgraded) OS from one PC to another PC. You're just moving the Upgrade license.

That new PC needs an existing license for a suitable OS, and it can't be the license from the first PC because that license is OEM and can't be transfered to another PC.

If the original PC has a RETAIL license, then, yeah, you can move both that license and the Upgrade license to the new PC.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
MS wants OEM users upgrading just as badly as they do Retail users.

Especially since around 90% of PCs have OEM Windows licenses.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: pyro451
If I have to install XP on the new rig first, I do not have a floppy drive to load the RAID drivers.

You haven't gotten an answer yet because none of us have gotten their hands on an Upgrade-Only DVD (or equivalent) yet. I'm sure you'll have an answer within the next 24 hours. When Vista Retail Upgrade DVDs were released, there were blogs about the ins-and-outs of upgrading within hours.

Edit:
Please see the first post in this thread for "late-breaking news". Someone on HardForum claims to have installed a W7 Upgrade-Only package onto an empty hard drive.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: SimMike2

Originally posted by: OILFIELDTRASH
Does it come with the 32 and 64 bit discs?

They are both on the same disk.

Are you sure about that? I didn't think that the Win7 binaries were any smaller than the vista ones, and MS couldn't fit both 32- and 64-bit versions on a single disc.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: pyro451
Great information here but I still don't have a clear answer to my situation (maybe I'm just not reading closely enough).

I have a fully licensed Windows XP Home installed on my computer (has been built from scratch and upgraded too many times to remember). I decided to buy the digital river upgrade to Win7Pro x64 and started the download before leaving home this morning.

I plan to completely sacrifice my old rig and part it out so I can install Win7 on the new i7 box I built. The new box has two brand new WD RE3s in RAID1 and NO FLOPPY DRIVE.

So, can I boot from the win 7 DVD (from digital river - "Upgrade") and install to my new rig?

If I have to install XP on the new rig first, I do not have a floppy drive to load the RAID drivers.

How screwed am I?

Thanks!

IF, and that's a big IF, that something that I read is true, that when you perform the upgrade for the first time, MS stores your XP key from your previous install, along with the info that you upgraded, so that if you ever need to do a clean install, you can do a fresh clean install from the Upgrade DVD, and then input your product key, and then when you activate it, MS then sees that you already performed the upgrade legitimately, and then activates your Upgrade copy, without you having to re-install XP first again.

If this is true, then concievably, you could upgrade your old rig to Win7, and activate Win7. Then you could format the old rig, and do a clean install on the new rig, with Win7, and activate it, and it would know that you already upgraded. Since the Win7 retail upgrade can be transferred between machines, this would also be within the EULA.

Whereas, if you attempted to move your OEM XP from your old PC to your new PC, and then do the upgrade to Win7 then, you would be violating your XP EULA.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: strikeback03
Also, what would be the legal story on purchasing a Retail upgrade and using it to upgrade a OEM version of XP? Would it then be licensed to move around as needed, or would that only be if upgrading another retail version?

"Legal Story":

Consider what the "Upgrade" license is for: It's a license to upgrade a PC that already has an existing license for a previous OS.

You can uninstall (or just delete) the Upgrade and put the Upgrade on another PC. But the new PC needs a base license for a suitable OS. You're not moving the whole (upgraded) OS from one PC to another PC. You're just moving the Upgrade license.

That new PC needs an existing license for a suitable OS, and it can't be the license from the first PC because that license is OEM and can't be transfered to another PC.

If the original PC has a RETAIL license, then, yeah, you can move both that license and the Upgrade license to the new PC.

I disagree. The Upgrade license supercedes the previous OS license, so as long as you perform the upgrade to Win7 legally, then you are free to move that license between machines as you chose. At least that's the way I see it.

 

[coldmeat]

Will I be able to install Windows 7 Pro Upgrade even though I am running Windows XP home Upgrade?

also, If I choose to download Windows 7, will I be able to install a second time if my hard drive dies/I choose to reformat? Will I be able to do this if I get a disc?

 

[TheUnk]

Stupid I could not install Home Premium over Vista Ultimate..

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: TheUnk
Stupid I could not install Home Premium over Vista Ultimate..

Did you select "Custom"?

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: TheUnk
Stupid I could not install Home Premium over Vista Ultimate..

Because it's a "downgrade", you'll have to do a "clean install" (Microsoft's definition of "clean install").